Telangana Deputy Chief Minister & Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka poses for a picture, with CM Revanth Reddy, before presenting the State Budget, in the Assembly, on July 25 | Photo Credit: Custom arrangement
The Telangana State Government has provided a Budget of ₹2.91 lakh crore for the Financial Year 2024-25 with emphasis on the welfare and development of agriculture and allied sectors.
Finance Minister Mallu Bhatti Vikramarka presented the Budget in the Assembly on July 25 with an estimated revenue expenditure of ₹2.2 lakh crore and capital expenditure of ₹33,487 crore. The country’s economy continues to depend on borrowing as can be seen from the public debt estimate which is placed at ₹62,112 crore for the fiscal and the debt servicing component which amounts to ₹17,101 crore.
Telangana Budget 2024 LIVE update: Borrowing should be raised to pay off debt, says Finance Minister Bhatti Vikramarka
The budget has a special focus on several sectors, the main one being agriculture, which receives the main share of the overall allocation. Agriculture, for example, was allocated the largest share of ₹ 72,569 crore, a quarter of the total expenditure followed by Scheduled Caste Development (₹ 33,124 crore) and Scheduled Tribe Development (₹ 17,056 crore) contributing over ₹ 50,000 crore. to the three sectors to ₹1.22 lakh crore of the total outlay.
As expected, the Panchayat Raj and the Department of Rural Development were given a budget allocation of ₹ 29,816 crore which shows the Government’s focus on the development of rural areas. The Irrigation Department was allocated ₹22,301 crore which shows the priority of the Government to take up projects that can be completed at a lower cost and Education was also given equal priority with an allocation of ₹21,292 crore. The Department of Energy with ₹16,410 crore and the Department of Health and Welfare with ₹11,468 crore are the other major departments that have received large allocations.
For the twin cities, the Government has allocated ₹ 10,000 crore to GHMC and HMDA and another ₹ 1,525 crore for the development of regional ring roads during the current fiscal while ₹ 9,654 crore is proposed to be allocated to the Home Department. The Finance Minister presented the Budget, the first full Budget of the Congress Government after a decade with a revenue surplus of ₹297 crore and a fiscal deficit of ₹49,255 crore. The estimated primary deficit in the budget is ₹31,525 crore
On the revenue front, the Government has estimated its own tax revenue of ₹ 1.38 lakh crore and non-tax of ₹ 35,208 crore while the state’s share of central taxes is expected to be ₹ 26,216 crore. The Government estimates the relief funds and donations from the Central Government to be ₹21,636 crore. Though lower than the projection made by the previous BRS Government which estimated ₹41,259 crore under the head instead of the actual ₹9,729 crore, there are still doubts that the State can achieve the projected amount.
Budget Session of Parliament updates LIVE: Both Houses continue discussions on the Union Budget
The government continues to hope to raise a significant amount through the State Excise which puts the revenue under the head at ₹25,617 crore. This is against the ₹20,298 crore achieved in the revised estimate of fiscal 2023-24 which is over the projection of ₹18,470 crore for the fiscal. Revenue realization through the Stamps and Registration Department is also projected on the higher side at ₹18,244 crore close to ₹4,000 crore higher than the ₹14,297 crore of the revised estimate from 2023-24.
Revenue through tax commodities has been raised by ₹11,000 crore from ₹57,394 crore of the previous fiscal to ₹68,273 crore. This includes revenue through sales tax, trade which increased from ₹29,989 crore to ₹33,449 crore. Revenue through public services under non-tax revenue has been estimated at ₹25,817 crore close to ₹9,000 crore higher than ₹16,852 crore of the previous fiscal estimate.